Showing results by publisher "Christian Audio" in Christian Living

In Feasting on Hope, you'll find rich biblical insights made approachable for all listeners; an exploration of how we participate in Christ's triumph; an invitation to see yourself as a wanted guest of God's hospitality; and reflection questions for individuals and groups to foster thoughtful engagement.

Does it seem as though your prayers aren't being answered? Even after praying fervently, do you feel that God isn't listening, that God isn't speaking or acting? Most of us have felt this way. Are there tools and strategies we can implement to break through the barriers? Keying in on two vital areas of spiritual warfare - restoration and retribution - apostle and speaker Venner J. Alston reveals strategies for engaging heaven with the expectation of answers to your prayers.

For the majority of people, sorrow, despair, anxiety, and mental illness are everyday experiences. While we have made tremendous advancements in therapy and psychiatry, the burden of living still comes down to mundane choices that we each must make—like the daily choice to get out of bed. In this deeply personal essay, Alan Noble considers the unique burden of everyday life in the modern world. Sometimes, he writes, the choice to carry on amid great suffering—to simply get out of bed—is itself a powerful witness to the goodness of life, and of God.

We all wish we had more control. When our relationships are strained, when our bodies refuse to cooperate, when the future is uncertain, control promises security and peace. If only I were in charge, we dream. And this illusion seems more attainable than ever. Technology, science, medicine, and the internet all promise us ever-increasing mastery over our world. The problem is, control is a "devil's deal." The more we seek it, the more it betrays us. In place of predictability, it gives us anxiety. In place of certainty, it creates more complexity.

The pandemic has only exacerbated what was already a startling trend: loneliness and disconnection have been on the rise for a long time in our society. We long for a deep sense of meaning to make sense of our lives, but we don't know how to find it. Even worse, we often search for it in unhealthy ways that hinder the very thing we're desperate for: genuine relational connection.

Jillian Benfield was living life in the spotlight as a TV journalist, but after receiving a life-altering diagnosis for her unborn son, she realized no camera-ready outfit could dress up her grief. Overcoming this unexpected circumstance wasn't an option. She would have to undergo it instead. In doing so, she discovered who she was and who God wanted her to become.

Many of us believe that the Bible is the Word of God, but we never actually read it. Or we've read bits and pieces, one verse or passage at a time, but struggle to apply it to our daily lives. Perhaps it's because we don't really understand what the Scriptures are all about or how to feast on them. That's where Wendy Speake comes in with a fresh twist on her popular forty-day sugar and social media fasts.

Understanding Judaism—and the way in which Judaism and Christianity became separate religions—is essential for a rich and holistic Christian identity. As a follower of Jesus who was raised in a Jewish home and who continues to live a Jewish life, Jennifer Rosner has seen firsthand how a Christian faith can become impoverished when divorced from its Jewish roots. Finding Messiah follows Rosner's own journey in rediscovering the role of Judaism and God's covenant with Israel in Christian life and practice.

Most of the time, we just consume or copy culture. But that is not enough. We must also do more than condemn or critique it. The only way to change it is to create it. For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided "culture wars." But Andy Crouch says we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in making cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us.

In this interactive study, biblical counselor John Henderson uses a workbook approach to guide you through your marriage preparation - helping you to understand the purpose of marriage, to handle conflict, to glorify Christ in your union and finances, and to get to know your own heart and expectations. Many threats to a marriage can be identified even before the wedding takes place. Even better, God's gospel provides the means of overcoming them.

The teen years are an emotional roller coaster in your son's life, rife with difficulties, insecurities, temptations, and opportunities to make unwise decisions. He still needs you . . . but sometimes you honestly don't know what to do. Navigating these complicated teen years with her own sons, author Brooke McGlothlin offers wisdom and practical help from the trenches—along with over ninety Scripture-inspired prayers—to help you fight for your son, not against him.

With humor, Scripture, and sage advice, Pam Farrel (child of a single mother) and PeggySue Wells (single parent of seven children) show you how to be decisive, create a nurturing home, be proactive, date wisely, pray for your child, embrace your happily-ever-after, and more.

Founder of the Midnight Dad community Dr. Mark Pitts knows firsthand the unique challenges fathers face as they try to keep pace with the daily demands of work and family life. In Called to Be Dad, he addresses the questions he most often gets from dads about family and fatherhood.

We all experience worry, hurts, triggers, and conflict, but we often suppress these emotions and keep God and others at a safe distance. Whether pressured by outside forces or compelled by an inner need for self-protection, the results are the same—our need for empathy gets stifled and we settle for shallow relationships with God, family, and friends.

Many of us feel exhausted, anxious, and untethered, but slowing down is possible with the right guide. In A More Beautiful Way to Live, spiritual director and recovering overachiever Bethaney B. Wilkinson offers a framework for reclaiming presence, rootedness, and rest.

This isn't where you thought you would be. You were meant for more. Your money was meant for more. You and your money are meant for an exciting, adventurous, and satisfying purpose. God designed you, not to be a hoarder, but a conduit through which His generosity flows. In The Money Challenge, Art Rainer takes you on a journey to financial health. But it is not simply for the sake of financial health. The Money Challenge was written to help experience God's design for you and your finances.

Increasingly astronomers recognize that if the cosmos had not unfolded exactly as it did, humanity would not, could not, exist. Yet, these researchers - along with countless ordinary folks - resist belief in the biblical creator. Why? They say a loving God would have made a better home for us, one without trouble and tragedy. In Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, Hugh Ross draws from his depth of study in both science and Scripture to explain how the universe's design fulfills several distinct purposes.

When 18-year-old Barbara rejects her parents' Christianity, God's grace pursues all three - through grief and conflict to joyful reconciliation. This honest, vulnerable account, written by father and daughter, offers invaluable lessons for parents and children at any age or stage - and for anyone with a prodigal loved one - showing how struggles may be faced with humility, courage, and hope.

Ten of the Bible's best-known femmes fatales parade across the pages of Bad Girls of the Bible with situations that sound oh-so-familiar. Eve had food issues. Potiphar’s wife and Delilah had man trouble. Lot’s wife and Michal couldn’t let go of the past, Sapphira couldn’t let go of money, and Jezebel couldn’t let go of anything. Yet the woman at the well had her thirst quenched at last, while Rahab and the sinful woman left their sordid histories behind.

Living Beyond Offense explores Jesus's teachings about forgiveness—what it is, what it costs, and what you gain when you put it into practice. Blending theology, Scripture, and pieces of her own life story, Yana Conner writes not as a blameless expert but as a fellow traveler on the forgiveness journey. Forgiveness is hard work, but you can learn to trust again! Despite the pain you've experienced, you will find ideas and encouragement for rooting yourself in God's trustworthiness and living in shalom once more.